Hardware-accelerated protocol conversion in an automotive gateway controller

Abstract

A network gateway in a vehicle connects heterogeneous networks and buses within the vehicle. The gateway implements hardware acceleration to accomplish protocol translation, e.g., between CAN, LIN, Flexray, and Ethernet buses and networks. In particular, the gateway provides hardware accelerated packet filtering, header lookup, and packet aggregation features.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An automobile comprising:
 a network gateway that connects heterogenous networks within the automobile, the network gateway comprising
 a first communication interface compatible with a first protocol; 
 a second communication interface compatible with a second protocol, which is different form the first protocol, wherein the first and second protocols are one of Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol, a FlexRay protocol, a Local Interconnect Network (LIN) protocol and a Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST) protocol; 
 an Ethernet protocol network interface; 
 buffer circuitry configured to receive first messages according to the first protocol from the first communication interface and second messages according to the second protocol from the second communication interface; and 
 control circuitry configured to
 aggregate payloads of the first messages and the second messages into an aggregated payload until a maximum buffer latency is reached or a message is received from the first communication interface or the second communication interface that has a priority above a predetermined threshold; 
 prepare an Ethernet protocol message comprising the aggregated payload; and 
 transmit the Ethernet protocol message via the Ethernet protocol network interface. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The automobile of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a plurality of electronic control units (ECUs) each configured to control a function of the automobile, wherein   each of the plurality of ECUs are communicatively coupled to one of the first communication interface and the second communication interface via one or more in-vehicle buses.   
     
     
         3 . The automobile of  claim 2 , wherein
 the first messages and the second messages received at the buffer circuitry originate from one or more of the plurality of ECUs and are received via one or more of the in-vehicle buses.   
     
     
         4 . The automobile of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a plurality of electronic control units (ECUs) each configured to control a function of the automobile; and   a plurality of in-vehicle buses each communicatively coupled to a sub-set of the plurality of ECUs and one of the first communication interface and the second communication interface.   
     
     
         5 . The automobile of  claim 4 , wherein
 the first messages and the second messages received at the buffer circuitry originate from one or more of the plurality of ECUs and are received via one or more of the plurality of in-vehicle buses.   
     
     
         6 . The automobile of  claim 1 , the network gateway comprising:
 a message filter configured to route the first messages and second messages to the control circuitry when the first messages and the second messages meet a filtering criterion.   
     
     
         7 . The automobile of  claim 1 , the network gateway comprising:
 routing circuitry configured to determine a destination network interface for the first messages and the second messages based on a header included in the first messages and the second messages.   
     
     
         8 . The automobile of  claim 7 , the network gateway comprising:
 a translation table for the Ethernet protocol network interface, the translation table comprising a mapping from message identifiers included in the first messages and the second messages to a pre-defined Ethernet protocol header.   
     
     
         9 . The automobile of  claim 8 , wherein
 the translation table comprises an index input configured to receive the message identifiers for locating the pre-defined Ethernet protocol header.   
     
     
         10 . The automobile of  claim 8 , the network gateway comprising:
 hash circuitry configured to generate indexes into the translation table from the message identifiers.   
     
     
         11 . The automobile of  claim 10 , wherein
 the translation table is configured to identify the pre-defined Ethernet protocol header in response to the indexes obtained from the message identifiers.   
     
     
         12 . The automobile of  claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to:
 read a configuration setting; and   selectively bypass a hardware acceleration option as specified by the configuration setting.   
     
     
         13 . A network gateway that connects heterogenous networks within an automobile, the network gateway comprising:
 a first communication interface compatible with a first protocol and configured to be communicatively coupled to a first plurality of in-vehicle electronic control units (ECUs) via a first in-vehicle bus;   a second communication interface compatible with a second protocol, which is different from the first protocol, and configured to be communicatively coupled to a second plurality of in-vehicle ECUs via a second in-vehicle bus, wherein the first and second protocols are one of Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol, a FlexRay protocol, a Local Interconnect Network (LIN) protocol, a Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST) protocol and an Ethernet protocol;   buffer circuitry configured to receive a first message via the first communication interface, wherein the first message includes a message identifier and a message payload;   control circuitry configured to
 map the message identifier to a predefined second protocol header for the message identifier based on a stored translation table comprising a mapping the message identifier to the pre-defined second protocol header; 
 prepare a second message according to the second protocol comprising the predefined second protocol header and the message payload; and 
 transmit the second message via the second communication interface. 
   
     
     
         14 . The network gateway of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 a message filter configured to pass the first message for processing to the control circuitry when the first message meets a predetermined filtering criterion.   
     
     
         15 . The network gateway of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 routing circuitry configured to determine a destination network interface for the message.   
     
     
         16 . The network gateway of  claim 13 , wherein
 the translation table comprises a pointer to the predefined second protocol header.   
     
     
         17 . The network gateway of  claim 13 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to:
 aggregate the message payload with additional subsequently received message payloads into an aggregated payload until a maximum latency of the buffer circuitry is reached;   prepare the second message comprising the predefined second protocol header and the aggregated payload; and   transmit the second message including the aggregated payload via the second communication interface.   
     
     
         18 . The network gateway of  claim 13 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to:
 aggregate the message payload with additional subsequently received message payloads into an aggregated payload until a subsequently message is received that has a priority above a predetermined threshold;   prepare the second message comprising the predefined second protocol header and the aggregated payload; and   transmit the second message including the aggregated payload via the second communication interface.   
     
     
         19 . An automobile comprising:
 a first electronic control unit (ECU) configured to control a first function of the automobile;   a second ECU configured to control a second function of the automobile;   a first in-vehicle bus compatible with a first protocol and communicatively coupled to the first ECU and the second ECU;   a third electronic control unit (ECU) configured to a third function of the automobile;   a fourth ECU configured to control a fourth function of the automobile;   a second in-vehicle bus compatible with a second protocol and communicatively coupled to the third ECU and the fourth ECU;   a first communication interface compatible with the first protocol and communicatively coupled to the first and second ECUs via a first in-vehicle bus;   a second communication interface compatible with the second protocol, which is different from the first protocol, and communicatively coupled to the third and fourth ECUs via the second in-vehicle bus, wherein the first and second protocols are one of Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol, a FlexRay protocol, a Local Interconnect Network (LIN) protocol, a Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST) protocol and an Ethernet protocol;   buffer circuitry configured to receive a first message from one of the first ECU and the second ECU via the first communication interface, wherein the first message includes a message identifier and a message payload;   control circuitry configured to
 map the message identifier to a predefined second protocol header for the message identifier based on a stored translation table comprising a mapping the message identifier to the pre-defined second protocol header; 
 prepare a second message according to the second protocol comprising the predefined second protocol header and the message payload; and 
 transmit the second message via the second communication interface to one of the third and fourth ECUs connected to the second interface via the second in-vehicle bus. 
   
     
     
         20 . The automobile of  claim 19 , the control circuitry configured to:
 aggregate the message payload with additional subsequently received message payloads into an aggregated payload until a maximum latency of the buffer circuitry is reached;   prepare the second message comprising the predefined second protocol header and the aggregated payload; and   transmit the second message including the aggregated payload via the second communication interface to one of the third and fourth ECUs connected to the second interface via the second in-vehicle bus.